Dog Tired

Pixie is home !

We went to the animal hospital early this morning (it's a 75 minute drive each way) and met with Dr. Fulton who showed us what they'd found before her surgery. He put up the x-rays like they do and explained in great detail what was what and how they'd found the problem disc and operated on it to remove the seeping fluid.

I wish I'd had as much explained to me before and after MY surgeries - and I paid for mine too !
I think I deserved a few line drawings at least. Maybe a glove puppet show to tell me how they split open my chest and tinkered with my ticker.

But I digress.

Then he went and got Pixie and brought her to us. What a poor little partly shaved baby she was. All drugged up and looking at our familiar faces with some confusion and a lot of hope..........hope that we'd take her back to familiar surroundings.

First we were taught how to 'encourage' her to pee and if someone did to me what we were being taught to do to her, I'd be peeing a river, screaming like a schoolgirl and offering to do whatever the hell you wanted !! Needless to say, she pee'd immediately and I for one don't blame her. Hell I almost joined her.

And so we left for home and once again, on behalf of Debby and Dennis, I'd like to praise and thank the staff at Christina Animal Hospital - from Max, Todd and Vanessa (the vets) to Debbie on reception. They were wonderful .

Once back here in Buttonwood Bay we put Pixie into the new 'crate' that will be her home for the next few months when she's here alone or at night or just when there isn't a lap for her to sit on. This is a 30"L by 23"H by 21"W soft module which is better explained by going to this site or by looking at the photos below.

This is the module with Her Majesty in residence. With all these 4 photos, I've altered the brightness and contrast in Photoshop above the norm to make it easier to see Pixie.

This has given an overexposure feel to the images but for the purposes of this post, she's the VIP (Very Important Pooch) and she needs to be seen.

In this first photo, the flash going through the mesh has created a second Pixie just above the original. Don't worry, I've not managed to capture her soul leaving her body the way they show it in cartoons. She's still firmly attached to it.

This next photo pulls back to show the module in situ in front of our 3 chairs and right where she can always see us and us her.

The top zipped panel will always be pulled back and open so that we can look in as we pass by and lift her out when we want her on our laps.

The open panel can just be seen hanging down on the right. The panel facing the camera also unzips open, as does the front panel which faces the chair in the photo. Basically a dog or cat or naughty adult can easily be taken out from every side.

It's a travel module of course and folds flat for that purpose.

Looking in through the top, here is a view of Pixie just a few moments after being introduced to her new abode AND to her little companion.

I don't think she was impressed with either and definitely gave the baby the cold shoulder......well the cold butt actually.

Again the extra brightness shows up her shaved back and even the stitches - if you enlarge the photo.

Normally when she lies like this, her back legs are out behind her, so it's obvious everything isn't working well yet. At the hospital this morning she DID put a little bit of weight on them while being held by the vet - so there is progress if only a little.

Finally here is a close up of Pixie so the stitches can be seen more clearly.

It's not the most photogenic shot of her but under the circumstances, it's just great to have her back with us (no pun intended) and hopefully not in pain.

The financial and emotional outlay may have been hard to bear but as with anyone you care about, it's all relative.

The hope now is that her recovery will continue and that she'll be back to something approaching 100% soon. Then our worries really will begin. How do we stop her jumping about and repeating the damage ???

But that's for the future. Right now it's the classic case of taking it one day at a time.

And we've Very glad for that.